Please add an option to the poll, "Name suggested after a referendum held in NWFP"
I am not from NWFP and so my vote for one name or another really doesn't count. The people should be given the opportunity to choose the name or let it stay the same, whatever they may prefer.
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Spock : We are not going to change the name based on these results, that would be silly, most people here arent even in Pakistan, let alone nwfp.
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LOL I know that Spock!, just making an observation I am not against the poll, but I am just making an observation about the issue.
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Malik: Similarly it is possible that a lot of people other parts of NWFP are not Pakhtun by ethnicity, but speak Pashto as a first langauage having long forgotten their mother tongues? It may well turn out that Hazara is not as 'Hindkowan' as we think, or that Peshawar is not as 'Pakhtun' as we believe?
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Very true Malik, in fact Peshawar is historically NOT a pakhtun city at all. In fact till the Afghan war it was predominantly Hindko. Many Hindko speakers in Peshawar and Kohat have adopted Pashto similarly with many Kohistanis and Chitralis.. While in DI Khan (Maulana Fazlur Rehmans home district) you have Baloch/Punjabi tribes who speak Pashto and Pashtun tribes who speak Seraiki. We tend to get tied down with ethnicity and language, and assume they are absolutes.
Ahmadjee: Thanks for pointing out the same that I said.
I will try and get some additional information on the ethnic make up in hazara and post it up. When I speak about Manshera I am afraid I don't have much accurate information except what Manshera Pashtuns have told me ( incase of Kala Dhaka in Manshera, the area is a tribal area and from what i hear very typically pashtun)
Based on what has been said so far in this thread (it was quite informative, btw, thanks all :) ) I believe that renaming it Pakhtoonkhwa or Pakhtoonistan, will no doubt make a significant majority of the population in NWFP province very happy, however the trade-off may be that a substantial portion of residents of that province will feel alienated and marginalized.
I don't think the renaming is worth that price.
While happiness of Pakhtuns in the province is obviously important, they should find a happy middle-ground for the sake of the province and the country. It seems, if we take the ego-factor out of the equation (where some Pakhtuns will not be satisfied until the province name represents Pakhtuns), and name it anything else, it should be a non-issue and easy to implement.
I would think, that hardly anyone in Pakistan will argue against renaming NWFP (or Sarhad) because frankly speaking NWFP does not seem to be any real name. It seems more like a geographical description and a stop-gap measure by the British government, and this inane name was just carried on by successive governments to avoid a potentially explosive issue.
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*Originally posted by fayax: *
I really dont care what they call it. They could call is Pakora or Samosa or Bakar Khani. Even people sometimes change their names, whats wrong with a town or a province changing its name.
If they want to call Sindh "Kinara" more power to them.
" A rose by any other name is still a rose"
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yara what I am trying to say is that Sindhis would not be happy if the Brits had imposed an insane name like Kinara and worse yet the Pakistani government continued using that name. There are plenty of people mad in Khyber :D and they have a point.
On another note, I would like to know about the 2 NWFP voters, if they choose to speak up, I'd like to ask why they chose NWFP in the poll? For nostalgic purposes?
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*Originally posted by Malik73: *
If one really wants analyse the Pakhtun and non-Pakhtun peoples of NWFP and their exact numbers then it can be somewhat misleading to use language statistics alone to judge the true numbers. While a 'majority' of people of Hazara may speak Hindko as a first langauge that does not necessarily make them 'Hindkowans' by ethnicity, because as I understand a great deal of the Hindko-speakers in Hazara are in fact Pakthun tribes who have long forgotten Pashto as mother tongue and now speak Hindko? Similarly it is possible that a lot of people other parts of NWFP are not Pakhtun by ethnicity, but speak Pashto as a first langauage having long forgotten their mother tongues? It may well turn out that Hazara is not as 'Hindkowan' as we think, or that Peshawar is not as 'Pakhtun' as we believe?
Just look at Punjab, a true melting pot of ethnicities. One might think that everyone who speaks Punjabi is a 'Punjabi' but the family names may actually denote Kashmiri, Pakhtun or Balochi roots etc. :)
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Very good point Malikji..
I guess the initial issue was raised when some people mentioned "alienating" non Pakhtuns of NWFP..theoretically Hindkians would be the largest minority opposed. It is entirely true that language does not go far enough in delinating ethnicity...One of the reasons, a referendum would be worthwhile.
Punjab is not only diverse in terms of ethnicity but also region, I mean looking from the Seraiki dominated south to the Punjabi central region to the Potohari North. I guess sometimes people forget that when they start bashing the province.
So predominantly Punjabi/Mohajir forum participates in a poll for a "name change" on a province which is predominantly Pakhtun and the top 3 choices are:
Hahaha, and someone said "Let's drop the thinly disguised anti-centre/anti-Punjab sentiments"?
Actions speaks louder then words? I guess!?
Yes, it is silly, but who is objecting it? If someone tells me that there is something wrong with naming a majority Pakhtun area as "Pakhtunkhwa" (Home of the Pakhtuns) or "Pakhtunistan" (Land of the Pakhtuns) then as a Pakhtun I have every right on earth to think and ask what is so wrong with the "Pakhtun" name.
I bet there would be no objections if the Pakhtuns wanted "Pathankhwa" or "Pathanistan", at least not as much as there is towards the "Pakhtun" name.
Of course now you will come with the old drum beat “we are all Pakistani first”, I know, I been there, not once but countless times. Though, before we are “Pakistanis”, we are “Muslims”, so why not make our national language Arabic, and we all should embrace the Arab royalty as our rulers? Remember, I am a Pakhtun, if you say lets do it 100%, I will tell you lets go for 120! And if you ask me to go 120, I will say lets go further then that towards 200! As in humanity or Islamic brotherhood no one can beat the Pakhtun compassion.
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*Originally posted by Hum Sa Ho To Samne Aaye: *
Zakk FATA people are Pakhtuns too...
And all this dispute over the name is silly....who cares really. We should really concentrate more on providing necessities of life to the people there.
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*Originally posted by Sultan Suri: *
Yes, it is silly, but who is objecting it? If someone tells me that there is something wrong with naming a majority Pakhtun area as "Pakhtunkhwa" (Home of the Pakhtuns) or "Pakhtunistan" (Land of the Pakhtuns) then as a Pakhtun I have every right on earth to think and ask what is so wrong with the "Pakhtun" name.
I bet there would be no objections if the Pakhtuns wanted "Pathankhwa" or "Pathanistan", at least not as much as there is towards the "Pakhtun" name.
Of course now you will come with the old drum beat “we are all Pakistani first”, I know, I been there, not once but countless times. Though, before we are “Pakistanis”, we are “Muslims”, so why not make our national language Arabic, and we all should embrace the Arab royalty as our rulers? Remember, I am a Pakhtun, if you say lets do it 100%, I will tell you lets go for 120! And if you ask me to go 120, I will say lets go further then that towards 200! As in humanity or Islamic brotherhood no one can beat the Pakhtun compassion.
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welcome back...
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Yes, it is silly, but who is objecting it? If someone tells me that there is something wrong with naming a majority Pakhtun area as "Pakhtunkhwa" (Home of the Pakhtuns) or "Pakhtunistan" (Land of the Pakhtuns) then as a Pakhtun I have every right on earth to think and ask what is so wrong with the "Pakhtun" name.
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If you reread all the responses, most sensible people have called for a referendum. If people of the province vote for Pakhtunkhwa or Pakhtunistan then the name should be changed. The people who are objecting to the name change fear that Pakhtunistan would then proceed to break away from Pakistan...Can you address their fears as well?
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Of course now you will come with the old drum beat “we are all Pakistani first”, I know, I been there, not once but countless times. Though, before we are “Pakistanis”, we are “Muslims”, so why not make our national language Arabic, and we all should embrace the Arab royalty as our rulers? Remember, I am a Pakhtun, if you say lets do it 100%, I will tell you lets go for 120! And if you ask me to go 120, I will say lets go further then that towards 200! As in humanity or Islamic brotherhood * no one can beat the Pakhtun compassion.*
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First off, it's not a drumbeat of "We are Pakistanis first" because just about every bloody Pakistani has some gripe with the country whether it be based on province, language, religion, or sect..So you will find few people who consider themselves Pakistanis first.
Secondly, if you want to make Arabic the first language and declare you loyalty to the Arabs, then what is stopping you from launching a movement to that effect? Believe me, you will find many who share your thoughts.
I don't believe in the Arabizing our Islam. We all respect Arabic as the language of the Quran but you cannot take away our Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Pashto, Baluchi..We like to listen to music, have our traditions and cultures maintain..No we are not all "Sons of Arabs" like many Pakistanis like to believe but who cares? In front of Allah it is our actions that will be judged.
Finally you said that NO ONE can beat Pakhtuns compassion...While I see that your proud of who you are (nothing wrong with that) but it is really hard to back up those claims!
You seem to be jaded into believing that all Pakistanis think alike, I know your wrong on that.
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Thanks for the welcome but back? 
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The people who are objecting to the name change fear that Pakhtunistan would then proceed to break away from Pakistan...Can you address their fears as well?
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Thanks for making it clearer. Fear is what I would call distrust. After what the people of this province have done for Pakistan..they are still not trusted…still considered a flock of backstabbers?…thats speaks a lot and I think everyone should know that.
the rest what you said, went all over my head.
regards
Khyber is a really nice name
Why not rename NWFP as Gandhara, I find it far better than Pukhtunistan or Pukhtunkhwa. Anyway 70% of the households in NWFP (excluding FATA) speak Pashto, it means they have absolute majority and have the right to rename NWFP to whatever they want.
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Does anyone know why Hazara district (Haripur, Manshera, Abbotabad, Wah,,,,,) is even part of NWFP?
It should be in Punjab or maybe Azad Kashmir one would think.
Besides that I would have no reservations with renaming NWFP to something more accurate.
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It is a very silly statement from you, one also could ask why Mianwali, Attock and DGK are part of Punjab. You have probably heard this slogan before,
Az Makran ta DG Khan, Balochistan, Balochistan
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*Originally posted by Sultan Suri: *
Thanks for making it clearer. Fear is what I would call distrust. After what the people of this province have done for Pakistan..they are still not trusted…still considered a flock of backstabbers?…thats speaks a lot and I think everyone should know that.
the rest what you said, went all over my head.
regards
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Hey don't blame me..I'm bring to the forefront, the Pakistani anxieties. It is certainly not my view because there are 2 Baluchistans (Pak. & Iran), 2 Punjabs (Pak & India)..so it wouldnt make a difference to me if theres a Pakhtunkhwa or heck, even an Afghanistan replacing the name NWFP.
I don't know if you follow Afghan news or not but theres a talk of reorganizing Afghanistan into admin unit, one of which will be called Pakhtunkhwa...So it's not a big deal if NWFP went for the same name. I like Khyber, Afghania, but hey I am not from the province :)
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*Originally posted by shawaiz: *
Az Makran ta DG Khan, Balochistan, Balochistan
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Are you a Baluchi Nationalist?
Lets not place this ethnically based provinces game again. Baluchistan would be cut in half. I would rather arrange provinces on a administrative basis or leave the status quo.
Punjab
Afghania
Kashmir
Iran
Sindh
Turkestan
Arabia
N
I vote for the originally conceived name, Afghania. 
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It is a very silly statement from you, one also could ask why Mianwali, Attock and DGK are part of Punjab. You have probably heard this slogan before,
Az Makran ta DG Khan, Balochistan, Balochistan
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Actually I have never heard that slogan. I also find your slogan to be very "silly". I had no clue that Attock, Mianwali or DGK were majority Balochi, hell as far as I know Balochistan is'nt even majority Balochi.
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Are you a Baluchi Nationalist?
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No Sir, I ain't.
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Lets not place this ethnically based provinces game again. Baluchistan would be cut in half. I would rather arrange provinces on a administrative basis or leave the status quo.
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We're both agreed.
Mr. Elahi you said,
"Does anyone know why Hazara district (Haripur, Manshera, Abbotabad, Wah,,,,,) is even part of NWFP?
It should be in Punjab or maybe Azad Kashmir one would think".
Could you clarify your point please?
Regards
Shawaiz